PhylSim: A New Phylogenetic Tool for Modeling Trait Evolution and Speciation

Abstract

We present a new software tool in R, the PhylSim package, which allows the user to simulate trait evolution on a phylogeny, while varying the speciation rate and evolutionary model over the course of the simulation. In particular, the user can specify any number of regimes, with a different speciation rate for each regime, or set the speciation rate to vary when the value of a trait exceeds a certain threshold. The evolutionary model can also be varied as many times as necessary over the course of the simulation, to account for traits tending toward different optima at different periods in evolutionary history. We illustrate the use of the package with an example, a simulation of the adaptive radiation of Antarctic notothenioids in the Southern Ocean.